IOC intervention required in running tennis: ITF VP Khanna

The core of international tennis jolted by a match-fixing scandal, ITF vice-President Anil Khanna today said it's high time that a neutral body like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) steps in to revamp the sport's governing structure.
The day one of the Australian Open began with a media report claiming that top-50 players were suspected of match-fixing in the last decade and at least seven of them will compete this year at Melbourne Park.
The BBC report alleged that Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), which was formed to police the sport in 2007, has not pursued several leads, provided by betting companies, seriously.

Khanna said ITF may be the world governing body of the game but the sport was actually being controlled by a few powerful nations with huge commercial interests. He said ITF cannot be blamed for the alleged mess since TIU was not solely managed by it.
"On the formation of TIU, I have to clarify that TIU is represented by ATP, WTA, Grand Slam Committee and also the ITF. ITF is not the only controller of the TIU as it is funded by all the four organisations. Therefore, it is not entirely ITF's responsibility to address these issues. This will have to be done in a collective manner," Khanna told PTI.

"I feel a change will be required. As an Indian I am aware that when serious allegations of match fixing were raised against IPL, Supreme Court of India stepped in to protect the integrity of the game.

"In case of tennis there is no one such body which can step in other than the four organisations which are controlling the game. To my mind the only neutral body which can intervene is the International Olympic Committee which can look into these issues and also the governing pattern of ITF," Khanna suggested.
When his views were sought on whether TIU was effective enough to deal with such issues since all its members had commercial interests, Khanna said ITF cannot be bracketed with other members.

"To your question that TIU is being controlled by commercial interests, I have to state that among the four organisations, ITF is certainly not a commercial organisation. ITF is primarily engaged in development, Davis Cup, Fed Cup and low level professional tournaments.
When asked how he views the match fixing claims at the
top level being the ITF Vice President, Khanna said, "I have no comments and confident that the Board of Directors will deal with it."
The Indian administrator, who narrowly lost the ITF's Presidential election recently, though said TIU did take action
in the past when match-fixing issues came up.

"As ITF Vice President and Member of the Board I cannot deny that the TIU has reported fixing of matches at lower level events in the past and players have been punished as per the Rules framed for the TIU.
"I would not like to comment on the report that there is widespread accusations of match fixing involving leading players and also in Grand Slam events. This matter will have to be dealt by the ITF Board and the TIU in due course."
The current governing pattern in the ITF does not allow for equal voting rights for its members. While five powerful nations have 12 votes each, there are 87 other members who have only one vote.

Interestingly, 63 of the member nations do not have even one vote.